19 Dec 2009

Reid believes changes could make Super 14 more even

11:52 am on 19 December 2009

The Otago and Highlanders chief executive Richard Reid believes the changes to the Collective Employment Argeenment in New Zealand rugby is likely to produce a more competitive Super 14 competition.

The changes include an adjustment to the player payment pool and introduce franchise contracting.

Reid says eventually all the franchises will have about the same amount of money to spend and that'll give them more freedom to select from wherever they want. However he says that has to be balanced with the need for local backing.

He says one of the the downsides of franchises is they don't quite engender as much parochial support as the provincial teams and neither should they, as the provinces have been going for more tnan 100 years.

Reid says a balance has to be struck between local content and having the right players and while he wants to keep as many southern players as possible in the Highlanders, he doesn't want them coming last.